2019 US Masters Tournament
The US Masters is one of the four major championships in professional golf, and forms part of the PGA Tour programme.
Since its formation in 1934, the tournament has always taken place at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, with only a three-year break during World War II between 1943 and 1945.
The tournament is contested over four rounds of 18 holes, running from Thursday to Sunday. All entrants compete for at least 36 holes, or two full rounds, before a cut-off score is calculated. Any players which a score over that will ‘miss the cut’ and will therefore not contest the final two rounds.
If after four rounds and 72 holes there is no outright winner, all of the players tied for the lead will enter a sudden-death playoff round. Play is then contested on the 18th hole followed by the neighbouring 10th hole. This will be repeated until one player wins outright.
This year, Tiger Woods is the among headline stars who fancy their chances at winning the green jacket. Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose are among the favourites to win the jacket, with Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson just some of the legendary faces in the competition.
Masters betting odds
Despite never winning at Augusta before, Rory McIlroy has found peak form at just the right time and comes into the tournament in Georgia as the 6/1 favourite to win.
Dustin Johnson also enters the tournament in fine form, and is best placed to challenge the Northern Irishman. He’s won twice already this season, and that places him as 8/1 second-favourite before teeing off.
Justin Rose is the Englishman most favoured for glory in Augusta, and this could be his best chance of adding a green jacket to his trophy collection. He’s 10/1 third-favourite.
Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods are previous winners of the tournament, with Woods coming from some career lows to thrust himself into contention to take his fifth green jacket. He’s 12/1 in the running, with Spieth hoping to claim his second Masters win. He’s 18/1 to repeat his 2015 heroics.
Danny Willett and Tommy Fleetwood are England’s outside chances of having another US Masters winner. Willett produced a fairytale story during his 2016 Masters win, but he’s a 150/1 long-shot to claim a second green jacket. Fleetwood is an 18/1 outsider.
Jon Rahm is a man on the rise, and could be worth a look for victory in Augusta. He’s likely to become a major champion at some point in his career, and he’s 14/1 to pick up his first at the 2019 US Masters.
View the latest US Masters Tournament betting odds at Coral.
Masters form guide
As one of the four major championships of the year, along with the U.S Open, The Open Championship and PGA Championship, the US Masters takes extra prominence to those competing who aspire to be world number one.
The Augusta course is renowned for being unrelenting and unforgiving. Any mistakes will have a knock on effect for the rest of the tournament, so competitors will use other tournaments to perfect their game.
Events such as The Players Championship, The Honda Classic, WGC Mexico Championship and Farmers Insurance Open have all been contested by those with the hopes of winning the green jacket.
Form helps going into a tournament of this size, but it isn’t essential. Some of the previous winners haven’t been on their best form before winning the US Masters.
The most recent example of this is Patrick Reed’s 2018 Masters win, where prior to the tournament, he’d missed the cut three times and only notched three top 10 finishes.
Danny Willett had only won once in 2016 before the Masters and claimed only one further top 10 finish, with Sergio Garcia similarly only winning once but not finishing inside the top 10 in any other build-up tournament.
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy started the year as world number eight, but has since moved up the rankings to third with a host of brilliant performances.
He’s come into his own at just the right time, hitting the form of his life by claiming a top 10 finish in each of his seven tournament entries in 2019 including a victory at The Players Championship.
Since the 2014 tournament, the Northern Irishman hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 at the US Masters, picking up his best result in 2014 when he finished fourth. He finished tied fifth last year, coming in nine-under-par.
Tiger Woods
In 21 entries to the showpiece event in Augusta, Woods has won four times, though all of his victories came between 1997 and 2005.
Since 2005, he’s picked up two second place finishes, a third and three more fourths. He’s only entered twice in the last five years, due to personal reasons and injuries hampering his late career.
It’s not been the most stellar year of his career so far, but a win at Augusta could change that. A tied-10th place finish at the WGC Mexico Championships was his best finish until the end of March, where he finished tied-fifth at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play.
Justin Rose
Rose might not get a better shot at winning the US Masters than he has this year. With no standout favourite, and Rose in relatively good form, he’ll be fighting until the last for the win.
On current form, he’s up there with some of the other front runners. He claimed a win at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, currently sat on top of the leaderboards as world number one in the rankings. He’s also claimed two top 10 finished in his last two outings.
The Englishman finished second in 2015 and lost a famous playoff showdown with Sergio Garcia in 2017, which remains his best performance at Augusta. He’s also claimed three further top 10 finishes at the course, giving him five top 10 finishes in 13 attempts.
Dustin Johnson
The man in form. Johnson has already bagged a pair of wins in 2019, coming at the Saudi International and the WGC Mexico Championship, backed up by a further four top 10 outings.
DJ will also feel this could be his best chance of winning the US Masters, but it’s all down to his putting. His approach shots are never off, but his short game has been a downfall in the past. If he can get on top of that, his name could top the leaderboard on Sunday.
His best finish in Augusta came in 2016, where he tied for fourth place. He didn’t enter the tournament in 2017, so he’s has a top 10 finish in each of his last three showings at the course.
Best of the rest
World number four Brooks Koepka enters the tournament having been in poor form this year and he’s got a poor record at Augusta too. He could see this as the perfect opportunity to break the hoodoo.
He’s had only two top 10 finishes this year, coming at The Honda Classic, where he was tied for second, and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship where he tied for ninth. An 11th placed finish in 2017 is his best US Masters result so far, but he could spring a surprise from back in the field.
Jon Rahm will surely be a major tournament winner in the near future, and this could be the tournament which elevates him into the golfing elite. Currently at world number eight, he’s quietly fancied to get it all together and win here.
He’s got six top 10 finishes to his name in 2019, with a tied fifth at the Farmers Insurance Open his best result. Through the four rounds at Augusta last year, he came fourth on the leaderboards, four shots back from eventual winner Patrick Reed.
Rickie Fowler was unlucky to narrowly miss out on winning the Masters last year, finishing second one shot behind, coming in 14-under-par.
He’s claimed a first and second place finish this year, winning at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and tying for second at The Honda Classic, so the American could finally be on course to land his first golfing major.
The Masters course: Augusta National
The Augusta National Golf Club course is based in Augusta, Georgia, deep in the heart of America’s South-East.
The world famous course was formerly a plant nursery, with each hole being named after the tree or shrub which it has become associated with. Examples of this include hole one (Tea Olive), hole three (Flowering Peach), hole 12 (Golden Bell), hole 15 (Firethorn) and hole 18 (Holly).
Weather forecasters are predicting a mixed bag weather wise for the duration of the tournament. Day one looks to be cloudy but mainly dry, with a small chance of showers later in the day and a gentle 10mph breeze. Unfortunately, it looks to be the calmest day.
Day two is the most worrying, with heavy rain forecast for most of the day and the humidity up at 71%, meaning storms could affect the course and players. They’re expected to be scattered around the course.
Day three sees only a 6mph predicted wind, but there’s a high chance of rain. The final day could be the worst of the bunch. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to return, with a 90% chance of rain and raised humidity levels. If the play is delayed, it could be moved to Monday.
The Augusta course is far more suited to those who play accurate shots over long drives down the course. It rewards players who hit Greens in Regulation, meaning shorter, more accurate approach shots. This should be the preferred way to his GIR rather than trying to gain distance with long drives off the tee.
